Assorted Crafting and Geekery

The 80s tasted like Cap’n Crunch

I’m sitting here on the futon downstairs, watching “The Abyss” on HBO. The movie came out in 1989 and still amazes me. Sure, the aliens at the end kind of move a little jerky from time to time but, on the whole, the special effects still hold up, to say nothing of the story. I generally prefer the Director’s Cut of this film but that’s rarely the version that’s broadcast on stations of any sort.

While sitting here I started to think of other things from the 80s. I didn’t really mean to. They just started popping up in my head. Maybe it was a subconscious effect of watching this movie and working on the head for Kowl (he’s sitting over on my table, waiting for the last of the glue to dry before I move on to sewing felt overtop). Maybe my jaunt down memory lane was spurred on by the fact that I’m going to be walking across the stage for Convocation on Thursday (that’s right, folks, I’ll officially have my Master’s this summer) and my brain just felt like re-visiting a simpler time. Well, it seemed simpler. Of course, there were massive oil spills going on, we were in a recession, un-employment was still high, gas prices were through the roof, I was living with my parents…hey, wait a minute…

Bowl of nostalgia, anyone?

Anyhoo, whatever the reason for my little childhood nostalgia, for some reason an old cereal from the 80s popped into my mind. Do you remember the Batman cereal? I do. It was a specialty cereal that was released to coincide with the 1989 Batman movie with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. I remember my brother eating it every morning whilst wearing his Batman costume. Man, that kid was obsessed with his costumes. At one point he had a Ninja Turtle costume, a Batman costume and, a bit later, a Blue Power Ranger. These didn’t all co-exist in the house at the same time. They were spaced out.

Just so we’re clear, these were not the kinds of costumes I make nowadays. These were the onesie type costumes that one purchased at Rite-Aid or People’s Drug (how’s that last one for nostalgia?) at Halloween. He’d get the costume for the holiday and then continue to wear it for the rest of the year. I’m sure other kids used these costumes as pajamas too – which, when you think about it, was a bad idea because I don’t think they were flame-retardant – but my brother didn’t stop there. Oh no. He’d come home from school and immediately head off to his room to change into one of his costumes. The one he wore the most was actually the Power Ranger one. He wore huge holes in it and continued to wear it long after it ceased being his actual size. He did have a Batman costume though and, as I said, he’d wear it while eating his Batman cereal.

The 80s - nothing says "my childhood" like rampant commercial tie-ins

I remember taking part in the Batman cereal myself. I can still remember the taste. It tasted like Cap’n Crunch, although I seem to remember it having a smooth texture a little closer to Corn Pops than the more scratchy one of Cap’n Crunch. Part of me wishes they still sold it in the store, if only so I could go pick up a box of my youth. I’m sure there’s a Batman superfan somewhere out there who has a really old box of it that’s never been opened, stuffed somewhere on a display shelf. Afterall, my brother has a OSU Buckeyes championship Coke bottle (unopened) dating back to some time in the 1990s. I wouldn’t want to eat the cereal in that box, though. That would just be disgusting.

In other 1980s related news: Marc Singer – the Beast Master himself – will be at Dragon*Con 2010 this year. I may or may not have squeed like a child when I read that update the other day. It also looks like they might be putting together a lineup of folks from SyFy’s Eureka, for which I am extremely pleased. They’ve already got Erica Cerra (Deputy Jo Lupo) and Salli Richardson (Alison Blake) confirmed. Now it’s just a waiting game to see if they get Colin Ferguson. If they do, you can bet your britches I’ll be lining up to steal, er, meet him.